A team of researchers from Wayne State University was awarded a $1.3 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study “Advanced wireless augmented reality-enhanced exposure therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.” The project will be led by Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences Arash Javanbakht, M.D., who directs the Stress, Trauma and Anxiety Research Clinic, or STARC, and invented the technology. Javanbakht, a clinical psychiatrist whose work focuses on anxiety, trauma and PTSD, often helps civilians, refugees and first responders with mental health disorders.

Important brain structures that are key for signaling in the brain are narrower and less dense in females, and more likely to be damaged by brain injuries, such as concussion.

Relatives of the man responsible for the mass shootings in last October blame themselves for not doing more to stop him. And in emotional testimony before the commission investigating the tragedy, they also called on law enforcement, the media, the Army and others to do better in the future. Chief among those calls is for better access to mental health treatment and protections from traumatic brain injuries for soldiers who are exposed to blasts and sonic booms during training.

When a patient with a severe traumatic brain injury is comatose, in intensive care, unresponsive and hooked up to a ventilator, but not brain-dead, when is the time to withdraw life support? A small study on the fates of people in such situations suggests that doctors and patients’ families may make better decisions if they wait even a few days longer than usual.

An ‘acute brain failure’ jettisons a patient, their doctors and families into an anxious twilight zone. How aware is a person in a coma? And how are decisions made in the face of uncertainty?

Although the acute urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic has been in the world’s rearview mirror for some time, the virus continues to affect a portion people who contracted it, even two years after their initial recovery.  A new paper published in The Lancet Regional Health Western Pacific details a handful of brain abnormalities identified on the MRI scans of people who had moderate to severe cases of COVID. The imaging findings align with the patients’ lingering cognitive complaints and fatigue issues, indicating that, for some, the virus’ impact could persist for years. 

Clinical trials using the drug known as ecstasy to treat PTSD may have been tainted by investigator biases and understated possible harmful effects, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review said in a report on Tuesday. Why it matters: The influential nonprofit's assessment could complicate prospects for the therapy, which has been touted as a treatment for veterans with PTSD and is part of a cohort of psychedelic drugs that has shown promise for treating addictions and mental health disorders.

An editorial published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine by experts from Spaulding Rehabilitation, Boston University, Mayo Clinic, and the Concussion Legacy Foundation, argues that the term "subconcussion" is a dangerous misnomer that should be retired. The authors are appealing to the medical community and media to substitute the term with more specific terms so the public can better understand the risks of brain injuries and advance effective efforts to prevent chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

A study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) found that a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model can accurately screen for post-traumatic stress disorder following recent childbirth (CB-PTSD). The study explored the capabilities—as well as weaknesses—of different models from OpenAI, including ChatGPT, to identify a version that can offer insights into maternal health following a traumatic childbirth.

Robert Card, the Army reservist who shot and killed 18 people in Maine’s most deadly shooting, had evidence of traumatic brain injuries, researchers said. Researchers at Boston University analyzed brain tissue and found there was degeneration in nerve fibers that allow different areas of the brain to communicate, inflammation and a small blood vessel injury, The Associated Press reported.